by Jeremiah Davis

Last week, many teachers and students got into the Christmas spirit through the annual door decorating contest at St. John Bosco.

The competition, started by ASB and available to all who wanted to participate, gave each teacher a chance to truly show their creative side, while also having fun. Because this is a competition, the top three decorative doors were selected for the final round. Out of the three finalists, one door was selected as the winner. 

One finalist, Mrs. Becky Ellison, decorated her door in a very creative fashion, centered around Bosco and what it has to offer. In addition, she added something that was near and dear to her heart: her kids’ old toy named Freddie the Elf, which was used by her kids to spread Christmas cheer in and around their household.

“I wanted to base my door around Admissions, and I was able to do this using Bosco the Elf, whose real name is Freddie the Elf. It was a toy that my kids had previously owned when they were little, and it was used to spread Christmas cheer in our household. The elf takes a tour of every Pathway and sport on campus which is pretty neat,” said Mrs. Ellison.

Mrs. Ellison felt that the activity was a great experience and success, and she did not even spend much extra time decorating her door. Although only the Admissions team helped her this year, Mrs. Ellison will ask the Student Ambassadors to help her complete the door next year. 

Another finalist in the competition was Mr. Mario Cordero. The inspiration for his door was far different than that of Mrs. Ellison.

“Mr. Vigil was my inspiration for my door, and the students and I spent as much time as needed to make it as perfect as possible,” said Mr. Cordero 

Even though his door was not the winner, Mr. Cordero managed to have fun in the competition while also poking a little fun at Mr. Vince Vigil. Mr. Cordero credits his students for helping him with the door, but especially one who helped him the most, Jose Gaxiola. 

The overall winner of the competition was Ms. Kelly Blakeman, a math teacher. Her door integrated both the Christmas spirit and the overall dynamic of her class with a poster of the “Twelve Days of Calculus,” making a creative play on the traditional Christmas song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”

Similar to in Mr. Cordero’s class, the students also played a big role in Mrs. Michelle Tracy’s participation in the competition.

“My freshmen class wanted to be a part of the competition, so I began to look up ideas online and I finally found one that piqued my interest,” said Mrs. Tracy. 

Mrs. Tracy selected an idea that involved her entire class. The door consists of Christmas-themed wallpaper surrounded by many small Santa Clauses. It also has both a naughty and nice list, which has the names of everybody in the class.

The collaboration between the whole Brave community, especially the students and teachers, with such a fun competition really got the Christmas season off to the right start.